Photos: Island Time

Real-life coconut water! Yum

Viewpoint on Ko Phi Phi

NOT REAL. Went snorkeling in that water!!!

Maya Bay, in the movie 'The Beach'

Sunset on the Andaman Sea

TOUCHDOWN

OK SO this one will be a quick one... but after my 5th, 6th, and 7th flights in 5 weeks, I have MADE it to New Zealand!!! I slept about 1.5 hours on the 11 hour flight from Hong Kong.. the 6 hour time change is really awkward! Also think I spent the last hour of the flight with my face pressed against the window... all I saw was ocean of course... or did I catch a glimpse of Antarctica? Hahah :) All in all, I can't believe I am actually here... for the past year I have been endlessly filling out paperwork, applications, forms, etc. to get this exchange sorted out, and now it is HERE. Soo strange. Definitely stranger than arriving in SE Asia! Am I ready for school mode? Probably not... also gotta get back into normal climate mode, as I underestimated the 'chill' of 17 degrees.. HA! In no time. Also, can't quite handle the accents yet, Think I'm just too used to SE Asian people to speak to. I do look silly in my seriously clashing patterns of my big scarf, tribal headband, running top and thai flappy pants, AND giant backpack, but HEY I am comfortable! Off to collect my bag than Han so generously hauled down here for me (thanks a million!) and then I am off to my FINAL destination (for a while) = Christchurch!

SE Asia, It's Been a Slice...

I figured that since I am ALONE and have time on TIME and nobody to talk to, I should take advantage of some seriously cheap internet I found in Bangkok and put up a post! Also, I know once I get to New Zealand I am going to realize how much I have to catch up on! And it has been a while. 3 reasons make it a must. Left you hanging (i like to think) on our departure from Ko Phi Phi to the other side - Ko Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand!! We had a relatively painless travel day (compared to our pilgrimage to Phuket) across the peninsula!! It was nice that it was broken up inot ferry, bus, SPEED catamaran. The first ferry, I was feeling the sun from our 9 day snorkeling trip and felt like I was in a sweat box but was not gonna give up my seat so toughed it out. After loading the bus, we had a painless 3 hour bus on the great Thai roads to Surat Thani, where we caught a boat to Ko Phangan. The 2 hours watching silent music videos and playing solitaire (I FINALLY WON) flew by, and we arrived on the island! The nicest lady from our hostel picked us up in her ford excape, when was the last time I was in a car?? Anyways, flawaless drive to our hilltop bungalow RESORT with the best restaurant and a POOL! It looked like it belonged in a catalogue! A friend of mine was staying right on the Haan Rin (Full Moon Party beach) and was paying about 3 times we were, and had a 16 bed dorm :/ However, they were very close to the busy part so saved some $$ on bussing! We hung out and had a delicious dinner at our place that night, and settled into our great bungalow with an AMAZING view of the ocean! And sunset! Photos very soon I promise! When I get my computer you'll be in for a real treat :) The next day, Sarah was feeling nooot great at all :( we got up, I made her suffer through me eating breakfast before we headed to the pier to hit up a clinic.... unfortunately all of them were inexplicably closed at 930am on a Tuesday? We were told they weren't opening till 6pm that night, unacceptable, so we went to the island 'hospital'. It was about the equivalent of a clinic back home so maybe that was a good thing! Sarah was in and out quickly and the doctor set her up with a nice gift bag of remedies, which she got started on right away! We were headed to Haad Rin as the full moon party was that night, and did not want to trek all the way back to our place all day as it was quite pricy. We met up with Sara H., staying mere metres from the party beach and caught up / planned to meet later on in the daym then headed over to meet up with Dylan and his giant crew of Vic people!! 10 of them were staying at the (much more chill) beach just opposiute from the party beach. I hung out with them for the day while Sarah napped and let her antibiotics kick in. She was up for a little dinner after a nap (YES!) and helped us get ready by being very artistic with glow-paint before heading back for another nap. The plan was for me to come get her later in the night to come join us. The rest of the crew headed to a place close by to get the party started. We ended up heading to the beach around midnight and it was INSANE. Soooo many people. Holy. Immediately lost people and we were pretty much in groups of 2 or 3 and were lucky to run into each other amid the thousands of people! The beach was crazy... neone everywhere, tunes blasting from every bar, bucket stands lining the beach, flaming skipping ropes and hula hoops (among other things), and the list goes on! Time FLEW by and before I knew it, it was 330am!! I worked up the courage to split up and go back to get Sarah. Walking down the street to Dylan's place, I found her sitting on the curb with one of the guys! SO convenient. She was feeling WAY better and READY to go. Heading back to the beach, we danced it up and continued wandering around until 7am. WHAT? Yes that's right we watched the sun come up! As it started to become lighter, we ended up being spotted by Sara H. and her friend Laura!! Saw them a few times on the island and it was good :) They're coming to NZ later on in their travels so hopefully I'll be seeing them again!! After a quick nap on the beach, it was time for breakfast. Most delicious meal. And bottle of water. :) That afternoon we headed back to our place for a much needed cold shower and nap!! Sarah hung out in the hammock on our deck while I attempted to nap inside - the KEY was wearing my headband like a blindfold, secretly it became night time! We headed back to Haad Rin that night ready for round 2.... of hang out time ahah :) Ended up chilling out for the evening, then going to chill with Sara H. again before wandering on the beach and grabbing some late night DELICIOUS mediterranean food - I NEEDED some hummus. The next day was my last on the island... saddest thing! We had a delicious breakfast at our hotel with the tiniest litter of puppies (COULD'VE stolen one...) and then rented some scooters for the day! We scooted to the pier to book my bus ticket, scooted to a beachside cafe for lunch - literally about 1m from the ocean, and then scooted to Hat Yao, the beach near our bungalow! It was a GORGEOUS beach! The best sand, nicely sloping so you're actually deeper than your knees as you walk out, and no angry waves or rocks!! Made it even harder to leave... At 430 I packed my things and caught a bus to the pier WITHOUT Sarah :( She's sticking around the islands about a week longer than me, but we'll be reunited in NZ!! The boat ride to the mainland was so silent.... it was so weird to be without a travel buddy! I caught an overnight bus to Bangkok on the mainland and somewhow managed to score the only spot next to an empty seat, so I actually got some sleep! Arriving at 630 this morning, I headed STRAIGHT to the NZ Immigration office to get my student visa (Yeah.. kinda need that NOW) AND IT WWS SO PAINLESS! I was in and out in 15 minutes. I felt so happy to finally have that damn (excuse my language) sticker in my passport! My happiness quickly dissolved as I searched and searched on foot, to no avail, for a geust house a) within a decent price range and b) not waay inner city and far from the aiport. After 3 hours, I finally settled on one right by a skytrain station and am going to attempt to get to the airport that way and save myself taxi fare!! Blog posting now, dinner next, then early to bed! I leave in 14 hours. NOT ready to leave SE Asia yet, I love it here! But that just means a return trip, right??? ;) See you on the OTHER side - I'll be on Kiwi turf before you'll see another post!! AH

Change of Pace

OK so I guess after that you deserve some actual stories... :)Past few days have been a serious change of pace from temple-going!! After a blissful sleep in, we awoke in Phuket!! Sunny all around outside, we headed out for 'brunch' as we'd slept until 11... Probably our least favourite meal so far but HEY its gotta happen. Checking out a market and purchasing some BEACH TOWELS, we caught the 'bus' outside our hostel to the beach on the west coast - we chose a beach called Kata, which is the second most giant beach on Phuket. Waltzing in, we claimed 2 beach chairs set up under umbrellas all lined up in a row - I'm talking LOTS OF beach chairs. The beach was probably 3km long and was LINED with them!! We laid in the sun, read, went in the WARMEST ovean, got some orange shakes, laid in the shade, etc. for the afternoon and it was AWESOME. Super relaxing and we were loving it! We had planned to only spend 2 nights in Phuket, so we booked our bus to Ko Phi Phi - and island between Phuket and the mainland - for the next morning, and just kinda chilled for the evening. Caught up I guess you could say. We caught a ferry the next morning to Ko Phi Phi (boats are 900X better than buses!!) and had a lovely 2 hour cruise to the island!! Arriving at Ton Sai beach on Ko Phi Phi at around 1030, we were let off and headed on a hostel hunt - we immediately liked this place. No roads, no cars, only walking streets and bicycles! And SO MANY dive shops!!! Crazy! Walking around we easily found a (kinda pricy but cheap for here) hostel. Putting down our bags, we set out to explore the town and found a 'Beach 60m' sign right around the corner from our hostel.... NOT bad!! Afternoon plans included checking that out. Another beach afternoon and some more town exploring and we headed to grab a bite to eat (foudn the best restaurant - we are regulars) and ended up deciding to check out the beach scene at night... SO much going on!! So many bars playing tunes, flashing lights, fire shows, glow in the dark things, games... etc. ALL the way down the beach. Tiny in comparison to the Full Moon party I am sure but it was a taste!! Sarah and I danced the night away in the 30 degree heat (SO SWEATY)! Day 2 on Ko Phi Phi was just as sunny and beatiful - we decided after breakfast to check out the viewpoint on the island, from which you can see both bays separated by a small strip of sand - this town got absolutely destroyed by the 2004 tsunami, and from up there, its easy to see how :( After reaching the viewpoint and snapping some photos, we decided to hike down to the other side of the island to check out some other beaches! We followed signs for Pak Nam beach and Relax Beach Resort... sort of a wild goose chase and we almost turned back, but we made it!! Such a secret little resort beach.. on the open ocean but there was literally ONLY the resort there. We grabbed some delicious lunch at the only restaurant and hung out on that beach for the day! Going swimming there was a different story compared to the calm bay we had been at the day before.. Sharp rocks, serious waves, and mysterious creatures! We survived (relatively) unscathed and caught a longtail boat back around the island to the main town. Arriving JUST in time for dinner, we had curry (a once a day occurence) and may or may not have gotten ice cream from 7-11 and people watched on the street... it is a regular activity. Pooped from our walk, we headed to bed KINDA early but only after investigating some SNORKELING TRIPS!!! OK so since we were too disorganized to book it the night before, we woke up this morning an hour before we knew the tour was leaving and hoped there were two spots left - YUP booked ourselves in! Ran to get breakfast and found out EVERYTHING is closed in the morning.. probably cause its open so late. Got breakfast and met our tour guy, walked a while through the town and arrived at the launch spot! At around 930, we loaded onto a big longtail boat for our 9 hour snorkeling and boating tour! First stop - shark point! Just off of the island, we hopped in to check out some Finding Nemo fish and coral!! No sharks spotted sadly.. Moving on to Bamboo island, we got off the boat and snorkeled / laid on the beach for a while. The island is TINY and perfectly round, the sand is SO white, it looks fake! This was at around 11am and it was already SO HOT I couldn't even be in the sun for more than 10 minutes... not like humid hot, but like a ray of sun is BURNING me hot. OK you know me, take that with a grain of salt. But scalding. Back on the boat, we took a quick trip to Masquito island, only to snorkel at its shore, but not actually go onto the island. I'm fine with that, don't WANT a mosquito island thank you! Sailing around to the other side of Ko Phi Phi, we ate a quick lunch of fried rice with chicked, with watermelon for dessert. Fuelled up and ready to go, we stopped in really quick at Monkey Beach, but didn't end up going in because the tide was too low.. So we headed on to our next snorkel spot! It was in a little cove and was so cool... we swam through a semi-cave and saw giant schools of fish... if you swama at them they would split up and soon enough you'd be surrounded! Moving on, we continued boating over to the other half of Ko Phi Phi - its called Phi Phi Lay (the main island is Phi Phi Don). Stopping at a cove, we had an extensive snorkel with our guide taking us along shallow coral and pointing at things - the higlights (ready for scientific names) were sea slugs / cucumbers, Dorys, schools of fish that make the shapes in Finding Nemo, black poky balls that looked like underwater porcupines (I was scared they were going to shoot at me), giant shell-like coral that was bright pirple inside, and fluorescent fish of all kinds. The fish seem so unfazed... swim along and turn around and an entire school will be RIGHT behind you! After our serious snorkel, we once again loaded up and headed off to our last stop - the beach. Not just any beach, the one where the movie 'The Beach', starring Leo, was filmed! Pretty excited. We pulled into the Maya bay and parked the boat in low tide, meaning the beach was at its best! The sand was HEAVENLY - it was like walking in flour or something. We walked through little sand pathways and a little village type thing and arrived shortly at the other side of the island! Just to check it out. We mainly hung out on the beach and took some photos of the setting sun in the bay. After our time at the beach, we headed back to the boat for our final journey back to the main island, just happening to see the sun sink into the ocean on the way, NOT too bad :) Tomorrow we are headed to the mainland to check out Krabi, then quickly move into the other side of the peninsula - time to check out the Gulf of Thailand!

21 Hour Travel Days are my FAVOURITE

After we'd reached our quota for temple-viewing in Siem Reap, we decided to go for it and book a bus back to lovely Thailand!! Our chosen departure time - 3 am. Awesome. Attempting to tuck in 'early' before our super early morning, we packed up , had our last showers before the marathon trip, and headed to bed for pretty much a nap before we left. 2am wake-up call came way too early... we rolled out of bed and grabbed our things, heading out to our tuk-tuk to take us to the bus. Ashort 15 second ride later (easliy could've walked) we arrived at the waiting bus - boarding it, we realized that something.... something wasn't right... It smelt DIAPERS. More than one. We joined people on the bus who had come all the way from Pnom Penh and discovered that indeed there had a baby who had an incident on the bus, and the clean-up was neglected.. thank god it was only 2.5 hours to the the Cambodia - Thai border and not the 4 hours they had told us... but wait!! Don't get off the bus yet!! Let us back in, shut of the engine and lights, and lock the doors without telling you what's going on.... just relax in there with the lovely aroma. NO thanks... I went down to try to open the doors and find someone to see what was going on... Sarah came down with her headlamp and we managed to slide open one of the windows and yell at someone. He ignored us, but we managed to wake up the driver who was secretly sleeping below the bus!! He woke up and groggily told us we were staying on the bus until 7 then going to the border. Alright - hour and a half to nap on the diaper bus!! When 7 finally rolled around, we were told to get off the smelly bus and move two busses forwards to drive to the border. Everyone was STOKED - this bus was great, super A/C, no diaper smell, not muggy and nasty.. too bad the drive to the border was about 800m. WHAT - get off the bus again? OK this is understandable because a) the Cambodians drive on the right side of the road and Thais drive on the left, and b) we needed to get through the border and do our new Thai visas. But seriously could've walked from where we slept on the nasty bus to the border. Its fine. Sarah and I grabbed our bags and walked to join the lineup at Cambodia departures. This border crossing was a breeze compared to the last - we did have to get our fingerprints scanned while leaving Cambodia though! Cool! After succesfully crossing back into Thailand, we had to wait for the rest of the passengers from our bus.. waited for about an hour probably. Then our group was led to some minibuses (glorified minivans) by a little shop, and told we had ANOTHER half hour to 'chill and wait' NO i just want to go to Bangkok. Haha good thing we ended up buying some cheese crackers to tide us over though... it was longer than expected. Minibuses - are essentially minivans with seats for 15 people and a driver (I KNOW) but they always seem to forget that people usually travel with luggage... needless to say, the ride to Bangkok in the minivan was HOT and we (well I) was getting irritable, especially when we stopped every HOUR on the way to Bangkok like NO i have been dehydrating myslef so I don't have to pee on this bus ride... 280kms from the border to Bangkok took us roughle 4.5 hours. Yikes. Arriving in Bangkok at around 2pm (12 hours so far!) we hit UP the nearest restaurant for some real food.... we got some Thai food accompanied by Thai iced teas (THE BEST) AND WERE so EXCITED about our meals! Finally! After we enjoyed our lunch, we made the journey into seriously FANCY and upscale downtonw Bangkok, we felt sooo out of place with our giant backpacks and dirtiness. We had to go to the New Zealand Embassy (for me) to try to deal with my still ongoing student Visa application... just so happened it was wednesday. When does the embassy close on Wednesdays? 2pm? oooh that's UNFORTUNATE. Seriously WHY. (Not to worry - its been sorted out). After chatting with numerous people and figuring out I had best just do it when i get back to Bangkok, we indulged in some STARBUCKS OH MAN in the lobby of the td-square-esque office building!! So rich and way more expensive than we are used to... it WAS delicious though. We then grabbed a cab to the airport to catch our flight down to Phuket! Waiting for a few hours and grabbing some dinner at the airport, we boarded our plance for TROPICALNESS at 730pm. Flawless flight! So easy! I read my book 'First They Killed My Father' that I bought in Cambodia (about the Khmer Rouge and genocide) and Sarah caught some zzz's. Touchdown at 9pm, we collected our luggage and ended up avoiding the 1000B taxi into town scam but catching a 100B bus (SCORE) BUT it ended up stopping somehwere, dropping all passengers off at their respective hotels, of which ours was the last. Obviously. Finally in our room, setting down our bags and passing out at 11pm FINISHED our 21 hours travel day. What was the plan for the next day? Hmmm I think there's a beach near by...

Photos! Angkor: Day 3 (Sunrise)

Sunrise at Angkor Wat!!

Sarah and some Rishis

Window view

Such a big lead up to every temple! Pillars lining the pathway

Elephant on the corner of a 'mountain temple' SORRY it only lets me upload 5 at a time... that's why there are some many posts! Check our Sarah's blog : toastsandwiches.tumblr.com for more!!!

Photos! Angkor Thom

LUNCH delicious.

Looming!! BAYON

Rishi!

Stairs to the sky

View from the top of Baphuon!